Health Science Center gets $250,000 gift from UW-L grad

La Crosse Tribune, Feb 05, 1999

A Bettendorf, Iowa, beer distributor with ties to La Crosse will present a major financial gift to the La Crosse Medical Health Science Center at a press conference today.

Several sources involved with the project confirmed Thursday night that Duncan Cameron, president of Vanguard Distributing in Davenport, Iowa, and a 1969 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, will donate $250,000 to the new health center, now under construction at 13th and Badger streets.

The Health Science Center, a project of the La Crosse Medical Health Science Consortium, will cost $26.8 million to build, $13.4 million of which will come from state Wisconsin Initiative for State Technology and Applied Research or WISTAR funds. Of the remaining $13.4 million, $3.65 million was approved in a March 1996 referendum in the Western Wisconsin Technical College district and $1.75 million will come from WWTC in land and equipment.

The remaining $8 million has been guaranteed by the five members of the consortium -- UW-La Crosse, Viterbo College, WWTC, Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, Franciscan Skemp Healthcare -- and will be raised through donations.

The 144,000-square-foot facility will house primary care, education and research endeavors.

The $250,000 is one of the largest gifts the consortium has received, and equals a donation made last August by La Crosse philanthropist Gertrude Salzer Gordon.

"Duncan Cameron has a high degree of connection with La Crosse," said John Wettstein, who serves with Cameron on the UW-L Foundation Board of Directors. "He has a great interest in the school and the community."

Cameron was unavailable for comment Thursday night. Cameron has been president of Vanguard since 1984. Besides the UW-L Foundation Board, he also serves on the Davenport Chamber of Commerce and the board of Scott Community College.